


Temporal

by TheAzureFox



Category: Puzzle & Dragons (Video Game), Puzzles & Dragons X (Anime)
Genre: Ace is a confused boy, Ambiguous Relationships, Fantasy, Lance is even more confused, M/M, Rivals to Friends to Lovers, Romance, not a complete alternate universe, time-traveller AU
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-10-14
Updated: 2017-10-14
Packaged: 2019-01-17 10:06:28
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,951
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12363360
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheAzureFox/pseuds/TheAzureFox
Summary: After Ace awakens in Vienna City, alone and without companions, he remembers two things:1.	He must save everyone in Dragoza.2.	He must save the future.The only problem is, his memories have become fragmented. He can’t remember anyone or anything aside from the vague memories he has of the future’s past. He can’t remember anything other than those haunting golden eyes, a monstrous creature whose presence follows him always, and the faces of those who are oddly familiar to him and yet so far away….Now, it’s up to him to save the future.To save Dragoza.And, to save the boy with the golden eyes who enchants his every dream…(Lance x Ace)





	Temporal

**Author's Note:**

> This is an idea I've had for a long time but, now that the anime's progressed quite a bit, I can execute this idea without too much fretting over how to plan things. This is a Lance x Ace story that focuses both on plot and on the paradoxically existing and not-existing relationship that these two boys have.
> 
> Basically, though this is a bit spoilerish, this is a time-traveller AU wherein Ace has traveled from the future and into the past. Hints of current events in the anime (and other events too :3c) will be sprinkled in here and there and the goal is to figure out what occurred in Ace's previous life and why he's left two messages to himself: to protect Dragoza and to protect the future. 
> 
> It should be also noted that, while I am going to make throwbacks to the anime, the story here is not going to be the exact same as the anime. The anime serves as the practical "background" to this story but due to certain changes in the anime timeline, certain events don't get to happen. However, on the flip side, interactions that never happened before will get to take place so that means more Lance x Ace moments and less filler content.

There’s a lot of things that Ace doesn’t remember upon waking up.

  1. He doesn’t remember how he got to Vienna City.



His hometown is a lavish city of cobbled stone buildings, concrete pathways, and fancy contraptions that lead from one place to another. It is nestled atop an island, set on the outskirts with various ports and docks that line the sandy shores. He’s sprawled out in the middle of the town square wearing a red short-sleeved hoodie and a white shirt striped with blue underneath. Tan pants line his legs while a red gadget hangs in a silver necklace around his neck.

He couldn’t remember anything. Couldn’t identify how he’d gotten home when he _knew_ he’d been somewhere else just moments before. Such a change in setting upset him, but what upset him more was he couldn’t remember where he had been _before_.

His dazed face has attracted the attention of many locals, all of which Ace can recognize and pinpoint a name to, but all of which his gaze flickers past. They offer no assistance, merely confused and perturbed as to what he was doing, lying in the middle of the streets, but he offers them no heed in light of the area he sees in his mind’s eye.

  1. The Vienna City he remembers is in utter shambles.



Despite being surrounded by peaceful and rather lovely noises, all he can hear is the cry of monsters all around him, the sound of war cannons and people _screaming_ and _shouting_ , running for their _lives_. Fire scorches a dark night sky, smoke dribbles up out of ruins and Ace clasps at his head, shaking himself free of the nightmares to look back into Vienna City’s lovely landscape. Still, the image falters, half torn with the scars of battle and half with the beautiful sight he remembered it as.

And then, finally:

  1. He doesn’t remember anything other than his purpose.



There are two motivations that keep him from his shock, two sentences that manifest in his mind and repeat themselves on the edge of his tongue like a mantra. _I have to protect everyone in Dragoza. I have to protect the future._

Only…he doesn’t know why he’s so concerned or why these words make him tremble with adrenaline. He doesn’t know why he has a feeling to jump to his feet and get _moving_ , to go to place to place, to explore the _world_ in order to figure out just what, exactly, is going on.

He stands up and shakes off the shivers that embrace his body. The calm, soothing atmosphere of Vienna City sets him on edge, shoulders tensing and hand reaching for…something…only, whatever it is, it’s not there. Ace gropes at empty pockets, his hand coming up with only air and lint. He frowns and then reaches into his other pockets, only to come up with the same, disappointing combination.

Then, he remembers. He remembers some sort of partner whose presence hasn’t touched his mind since he had awoken.

“Hello?” he calls, head swiveling back and forth to call to this imaginary savior. “Hello, are you there?”

Ace is met with odd stares and murmured worries. A few people smile at his words as if he’s one the stage-people who constantly parade the streets. However, his antics do not produce any further amusement as they quickly realize he’s just a kid looking for (probably) his pet. He ignores their gazes and carries on before they can make contact with him.

He can’t get distracted, not now.

 _Why is this happening?_ He asks himself as images of buildings charred black with ash flash across his mind. He feels utterly alone in this hospitable place, alone and without power, something that scares him very much. He urges himself into a desperate run, his gaze scanning his surroundings as he dashes to no certain destination. _Where is everyone?_ He thinks and then: Who _is everyone?_

“Sir!” A man in a military uniform shouts at him, jumping into Ace’s path with a gun slung around his shoulder. “Calm down. Sir, stop running!”

Ace imagines the sound of bullets whizzing past him and he shakes his head defiantly.

He’s not going to get caught. Not again.

The man reaches for him, large fingers searching to grab a hold of his wrist. Ace retracts his limb and then hurries on, sweat beginning to bead upon his skin.

He can’t get caught. He _can’t_.

A sudden thought traces through his head.

_Why?_

Why can’t he get caught? Why is he so afraid of this uniformed man? Why is he afraid of invisible bullets when the man races after him, gun hobbling on his back?

“It’s a thief!”

The accusation that soars through the air both startles and baffles Ace. _A thief?_ He muses for a brief second, stunned at such a conclusion. But, he doesn’t dwindle upon it. Instead, he keeps running. He keeps running past market stalls and cobbled stone houses, running past people with smiles on their faces and cute little monsters that warble for his affection, and he keeps running. He’s not stopping. Despite the pain that manifests in his lungs, despite the sweat that is hugging his clothing to his skin, his red jacket to his body, he keeps running. His muscles are tiring but – _damn, they’re still chasing him!_ – he keeps moving. If he stops, he’s dead. If he stops, _they_ will find him. If he stops…

Ace emerges on the edge of Vienna City’s pier and stops dead in his tracks. Before him, staring out into the sea with a forlorn look is a boy with white hair and a light blue cape. Beside him, a cat-like creature of black proportions ( _A Devidra_ , his mind whispers) hovers beside him, chatting up a storm as his companion gazes into the world beyond.

Then, Ace steps on a branch and the boy’s calm gaze turns to one of annoyance. He turns to glare at Ace and the ginger-haired boy’s breath is stolen from him.

Golden eyes stare down upon him, liquid honey with two black slits that watch Ace with the carefulness of a predator. There is no flicker of familiarity in the strange boy’s gaze, only frost as he regards Ace with curled lips.

“Devi,” he tells the Devidra, “we’re leaving.”

“A-Ah-!” Ace cries out before he can stop himself. “Wait!”

The boy heeds his words, pausing without looking back. “Yes?”

“Do I…know you?”

Ace nearly kicks himself for asking the question. It’s such a stupid thing to ask but the boy in front of him ponders over it anyways.

“You might have heard of me,” he says lightly.

“What’s your name then?”

A pause and then a frown. “Lance…and, judging from your expression, you don’t recognize it.”

On the contrary, the name shoves a bundle of emotions down Ace’s stomach. He’s suddenly excited, eyes restraining his feelings as he struggles to find a name for them. Joy, anger, happiness, sadness, horror, shock…all these words course through his mind as he struggles to maintain his sanity. He suddenly becomes unable to breathe, desperate for the reason why the name makes him flip flop between so many emotions.

_LanceLanceLanceLance…_

Lance’s name races through his mind and Ace’s heart throbs at it, aching in such an unfamiliar way that Ace digs his fingernails in his palm to avoid the nausea of sentiment that sweeps through him.

“I don’t,” Ace says and he’s speaking nothing but the truth. The boy doesn’t look familiar in the least to him. Aside from his name and his creature, there is nothing to recognize of this Lance character, nothing at all that acquaints his memories to the white-haired boy.

“Hmph,” Lance tosses up his head ( _he’s such a_ show-off _,_ Ace thinks with distaste), cape flying as he continues onward. His Devidra – Devi? – makes a face at Ace, leering as they depart from the beach.

The ginger-haired boy watches him leave, perplexed and a bit offended at seeing such an attitude. He frowns, hands on his hips, and then shakes his head and takes careful strides towards the city.

“Lance?” he tastes the name on his tongue. “Strange, it sounds so familiar but I don’t recognize him...or do I? Maybe I do but then maybe I don’t… _arrrrrgh_ why can’t I just remember _anything!_ ”

“ _Ace…._ ”

He pauses in his ramblings and perks up at the sound of someone calling out to him. He swivels his head in all directions, curious and somewhat alarmed as he realizes there is no one else in sight to have called out his name.

“ _Ace…_ ”

 _There_. The noise is coming from beneath the concrete barrier that leads to the foamy waters below. Ace frowns, peering out into sapphire depths and expecting to find a body of someone familiar mumbling out his name. His heartbeat pounds in his chest, the hope of finding someone who can explain all the nonsense in his mind rising.

Instead, however, he finds a white egg imprinted with a golden star. There is no body to be seen, no wayside traveler who’s destined to fill in Ace’s missing memories. Grumbling under his breath, Ace slides down to the watery shores and picks up the egg in his hands, cradling it with care as his feet glide across the beach.

“You found it.”

A calm and certain voice pierces the air and Ace freezes, looking up to see golden eyes staring down upon him. Lance stands at the top of the concrete barrier forming a wall along the beach, his Devidra glaring. The boy eyes him like a cat might a new toy, curious and interested but soon to be bored once it’s had it’s fun.

“I found…what, exactly?”

“That egg,” Lance replies naturally, hopping down and creating a cloud of dust in his wake. “I’ve been looking for it.”

“This?” Ace gestures to the item in his hands and Lance nods. “Why?”

“I’ve been sent on a mission to capture it,” there’s a pause and then Lance continues, “hand it over.”

A moment of silence.

“…Do you not know that the world ‘please’ exists?” Ace says after shaking off his astonishment at such an upfront statement.

The strange boy tilts his head but his Devidra speaks first. “Oi, oi, oi!” the black creature hisses. “Did you not hear Master Lance, devi? He said to give him the egg!”

“And why should I?” Ace clutches onto the egg tighter.

“Because Master Lance is a Guild Dragon Caller, devi!”

“…That…doesn’t explain _anything_.”

The Devidra stares at him and puts its stubby arms on what can only be assumed as its waist. “Now, listen here, _punk_ , the Guild is a highly influential community! If you make an enemy of Master Lance you make an enemy of the Guild, devi. And, an enemy of the Guild means _you_ get to be number one on our hitlis-”

“Devi.”

The Devidra’s voice falters and he stares at his partner. “Yes, Master Lance?”

“Don’t make this any worse than it has to be,” he sighs.

“Right, devi. I’ll shut up then, devi.”

There’s a smile from the white-haired boy, a slight tug of his lips to suggest amusement. Then, he looks at Ace and golden eyes darken. “I ask again, give me that egg.”

“Or what?”

Lance narrows his eyes at the challenge but Ace takes a step back. In reciprocation, the strange boy steps forward.

“Hand it over… _now_.”

The boy extends out a hand to Ace, his gaze frigid and demanding. Ace tucks the egg closer to his chest, unwilling to part with it.

“Ace! _There_ you are!”

Both boys startle as a voice calls out. Ace and Lance look up above them to see a dark-haired girl nearly their age stand above them, waving to Ace.

 _Haru_.

He takes the excuse and _runs_ , slipping past Lance to climb up concrete stairs and to greet Haru. She beams at his appearance, beckoning him forward with a smile. He gives her a shaky grin, grabbing at her wrist and dragging her with him as he breaks into an escape. One look behind him and Ace can see that Lance is unwilling to pursue them, golden eyes watching with both befuddlement and irritation. Lance watches them duck away around a corner and then he disappears from view.

Several minutes later, Ace is back in the middle of Vienna City gasping and sweating profusely. Haru is in a daze, her gaze watching him with uncertainty as her ability to breathe catches up to her.

“A-Ace…” she begins, “w-what’s wrong…why were you…running? And why do you…why do you have an egg with you?”

He sucks in a couple of more breaths and feels an easing in his chest. He holds the egg in his hands and looks over it with a sheepish grin. “I found it calling to me,” he tells her.

“It called to _you_?” she offers up a laugh and his cheeks stain red.

“It did!” he protests. Somehow, he's relieved and at ease to see a familiar face in front of him.

She shakes her head in disbelief. “Well, whatever. Who were you talking to?” she asks him, frowning. "I didn't get to see him that much but he didn't look familiar."

He thinks of the white-haired boy with the manners of a pineapple and grimaces. “A stranger.”

“What kind of stranger?”

“Some demanding jerk. He wants this egg for some reason.”

Haru looks over the item in his arms and chuckles. “He wanted _this_?” she pokes the egg and it wiggles in response, forcing her to take a step back. “Woah, it’s alive!”

Ace gives her a flat stare. “It’s an egg,” he says, “of course it’s alive.”

Her cheeks flush red and she grumbles about his sense of manners. “Yes, well, regardless, I’ve been meaning to ask you…”

“Yes?” He tilts his head to the side.

She looks at the ground, face shadowed, and then tilts her head up and glares at him. “ _Where were you?_ ” she asks in a near-shout, somehow exasperated. “Your mom and I have been looking for you _all morning!_ She’s worried sick, Ace! You can’t just up and leave like that!”

He holds up a hand and then grimaces as her. “Woah, woah, _woah_. What do you mean? What did _I_ do?”

Inwardly, his heart hammers. What did she mean by _leaving_? Did his leaving have something to do with why he couldn’t remember anything before he woke up? And, why did he have these awful, awful memories of a war-torn Vienna City? He couldn’t recall anything and, maybe, his disappearance was a start.

“Don’t play coy!” Haru snaps and it’s the closest he thinks he’s ever seen her get to furious. “You weren’t in your bed this morning! Rena found you gone when she went to wake you up. And _you know_ how upset she gets when she thinks you’re gone forever!”

He pictures his mother distraught and in agony, tearing apart bedsheets and looking under the mattress for her son. He pictures her calling his name, teasing at first but then quickly upset and paranoid. He pictures her falling to her knees and crying out, trembling as she associates the disappearance of her husband with the sudden absence of her son. And, then, he pictures himself as a little child, coming in through the door with a Shinee in tow as he finds his mother sobbing on the floor.

“Oh…I…” he swallows and tries to form words that seem appropriate for his situation, “I don’t know if I can…you’ve got to understand…”

Her hand grabs onto his wrist and tightens as she drags him up a street. He hisses as fingernails dig into his skin but Haru doesn’t relent. She marches him to the outskirts of the city and only lets go when they stand in front of his mother’s cafe.

“Apologize!” she tells him, shoving him towards the door.

“Wait, Haru!” he says but Haru crosses her arms and gestures him inside as if his little complaining has earned him nothing. “I can’t-“

Haru pushes open the door and then forces him inside, closing the door behind him before. There’s a sigh from Ace and then he looks from the door to the insides of the café. It’s surprisingly empty and rather lifeless, dull and dreary as a fine layer of something forlorn settles on top. Glassware yet to be cleaned piles on one side of a counter while the slightest hint of coffee writhes through the air.

In the corner, isolated and humming to herself, is Ace’s mother. Rena is holding up a plate, cleaning it with a lost look in her eyes as the towel in her hands spins in a circular pattern. Her voice is dazed and trapped in a labyrinth, her mind in another world.

Ace tiptoes forward, a fist pressed to his chest as he starts with a stutter. “M-Mom?”

 _Throb_.

Rena looks at him, the plate nearly slipping from her hands. Her mouth opens and then closes. It opens again, undecided, and then she takes in a deep breath as if to soothe away her shock.

_Throb._

Ace’s head pounds with a sudden agony and he tries not to wince as his mother approaches, her face unreadable.

_Throb._

The café walls crumble into dust, the walls falling apart and the tables flying everywhere. Haru is suddenly beside him, as is Rena, and he is standing much too far away from where the building lies. A giant dragon rears, mouth opening to unleash a stream of purple energy.

_Throb._

Rena steps forward, carefully, towards Ace. Yet, she also lies on the ground, Haru cradled under her body.

And, it’s red.

Red stains the ground around them like a cursed circle of enchantment, pooling on the shredded tiled floor as steam from the aftermath of the blast rises. Ace feels tears well in his eyes, throat hoarse from screaming, and he’s trying to get to his mother’s side, hands reaching out, but someone is stopping him.

_Throb._

“Let me go!” he tells the person, struggling against their grip.

They don’t say anything but it’s almost like they _can’t_ say anything. The past ( _Future?_ Ace wonders in the back of mind) melds into the present and he realizes he’s now on his knees, crying his eyes out as his mother kneels before him.

_Th…rob._

“A-Ace?” Rena says, collapsing him into a hug. Her voice is both stunned and in disbelief and he can feel the shake of her shoulders against him as she buries her face in his shoulders. “What’s wrong? Why were you gone all day, young man? I was worried about you, you know.”

Despite the fact that she sounds like she’s on the verge of scolding him, Ace laughs and nuzzles close to her, embracing his mothers’ warmth with a relieved smile. He wraps his arms around her waist and squeezes her close, causing Rena to yelp in surprise.

“Ace? _Ace?_ ”

“Mom,” he cries out, tears bubbling on the corners of his eyes, “you’re alive.”

She stiffens at _that_ , pulling herself away to wipe at his cheeks with a hand pressed against his face. Her eyes shine with something unintelligible and then she offers up a soft sigh, lips wobbling into an uncertain smile. “Of course I’m alive, silly. Why would you think such a thing?”

He doesn’t say anything. Doesn’t want to. He just wants to feel the warmth of his mother right beside him and allow himself the vulnerability he’s been craving since he’s awoken.

Rena, as if sensing his distress, allows him to hug her as long as he wants to, patting his head and rubbing circles on his back to soothe his worries. Then, when he finally feels like he has the courage to pull away, he does so and rubs at his eyes with a reassuring but dubious grin.

“I’m fine,” he tells her.

There’s a long look from her that suggests otherwise but she pats his shoulder and then glances towards the door. “I think Haru’s still waiting outside. Do you want me to tell her to give you some time alone for now?”

He nods and his mother steps to her feet, opening up the door, closing it behind her, and then minutes later returns with a gentle smile on her face.

“It’s alright. I think she understands that we need some time to ourselves right now.”

Ace nods again and then looks beside him, noticing the egg that he has neglected to care for in all of his emotional outburst. Slowly, he reaches for it, cradling it in his arms and hugging it close to him as a means of comfort. His mother inspects the thing carefully, her gaze somewhat darkening as she peers over it.

“Is that…an egg?” she asks him.

He clutches it closer under the fear that she’ll confiscate it. “I found it on the beach today. It was calling to me and I…I felt like I needed it.”

She puts her hands on her hips. “We can’t have pets running around here, Ace, you know that. However,” she takes one look at the red around his eyes and the way he’s desperately clinging onto the egg and her face softens, “for now, you can keep it. We’ll find it’s owner in the morning – I’m sure they must be worried sick.”

Ace thinks of the boy at the pier and wonders if, perhaps, the egg somehow belonged to Lance. _But, no,_ he thinks, _it called out to_ me _not_ him _. Plus, he said he was on a mission to capture it. Therefore, it belongs to nobody, doesn’t it?_

He doesn’t share his revelations with his mother, only tucking his body around the object so as to provide it with warmth. Rena shakes her head, walking over to the sign of the door so that it says “ _Closed_ ” on it.

“Ace,” she says, her voice tiptoeing into curiosity and a smudge of frustration, “where have you been all day? You’ve been gone since morning, young man!”

He cradles the egg closer and rocks back and forth. “I don’t know.” He tells her in sincerity.

“You…how do you not know where you’ve been?” Her voice is incredulous, as it should be.

“Mom I…I woke up in the middle of Vienna City…not knowing how I got there.”

She give him a flat look that suggests she doesn’t buy his story. “Nice try, mister. You’ve never sleep-walked before – I don’t see why you would do it now.”

He flushes at the accusation and realizes that, thankfully, he’s wearing his red hoodie and tan pants and not his pajamas like he normally does. “I-It’s not sleep-walking!” he refutes. “It’s…It’s…”

“It’s what?”

His eyes drop to his feet. “It’s something I can’t quite explain yet,” the boy says, softly. “I woke up without any recollection of how I got in the middle of Vienna City. And, there are only two things that I can remember: that I must save everyone in Dragoza and that I must save the future.”

Rena’s lips purse and then she lets out a laugh. “Oh, really?” Her voice is light and gentle but it is also firm with desperation that says to him: _Please, don't go._  She steps closer to him and initiates yet another hug, careful not to squish the egg between them as she does so. “Well, you don’t have to worry about any of that. You’re not a Dragon Caller, Ace. You don’t need to go to Dragoza and save people. Or the future, for that matter.”

“But, mom, I _am_ a Dragon Caller.”

There’s a long pause and then Rena draws back, eyebrows furrowed. “Ace…can you…can you see the Drops now?”

He squints at the air around them and, much to his surprise, can only see the faintest outlines of the drops. “I can but…they’re supposed to be much more colorful. They’re so faded, mom, so faded and…I…they _shouldn’t be like that_ , mom! I can remember it so clearly, they’re so much more colorful than this!”

Ace gives a cry of frustration, grabbing at a Water Drop and trying to pull it towards him. His fingers slide through and he gasps, taking in a sharp and panicked breath as he grabs for a Fire Drop. It, too, slips by and he looks at his hand with frustration, unable to comprehend the sense of loss that voids through him.

“Not again…” he whimpers.

His mother tilts her head back and forth, analyzing him with worried eyes and a soft sigh. She crosses her arms and begins to ponder something, lips pursed before she comes to a decision: 

“Ace…you should really go to bed,” she tells him even though they’re both aware that it is still very well in the early afternoon. Her voice is gentle but firm and a hand on his back pushes him towards a set of stairs. “It sounds like you’ve had a rough day. We can talk about this in the morning when you feel better.”

Words bubble on the edge of his tongue but he holds them back and gives a nod. She gives him a smile and then ushers him onwards, letting him cuddle the egg in his arms as he walks up the stairs and enters his room. He wraps the egg in a towel, humming to it a small song before he settles it atop a nightstand. The golden star on its belly blinks with a light and he watches it for a bit, fascinated but too weary to comprehend its meaning. His eyes close down upon him and he finds himself landing upon his bed as fatigue takes ahold of him.

Sighing, he cradles himself into his blankets and falls asleep.

~~~

“Ace.”

A dream like figure beckons to him. Ace sits in a meadow of grass, the petals of blue and purple flowers shivering under his touch.

“Ace, come on.”

The voice he hears is soothing and calm, an enchantment so perverse that Ace feels its call in an otherworldly way. He stands and approaches the figure, grinning from ear to ear as he accepts the hand offered to him.

“Ace, I _miss_ you.”

Golden eyes stare into the entirety of his soul.

~~~

His heart thumps in his chest when he awakens.

Ace is acutely aware of the way his heart aches, of the red that stains his ears, and of the way he is left wordless due to his own dream.

He puts his head in his hands and shakes himself of the vague emotions that capture him whole. A phantom sensation of fingers lingers and he grabs out at open air to intertwine his own with that of a specter. A low sound emits from his throat, something rather helpless and weak as he climbs out of bed and tries to erase the feverish trance of which he is in.

 _I have to protect everyone in Dragoza,_ his mind says, easing away the dream with a sense of cold dread, _I have to protect the future._

“Why?” he asks himself. “How? For what reason?”

A golden light pulses in his room and he stares over at the egg that sits beside him. It’s luminance enfolds him into a cocoon of molted metal, basking him in a nostalgic warmth that he does not recognize. Ace reaches out, grabbing the object and tucking it into his hood. Then, he eases off his bed and approaches the window of his room.

Outside, in the darkness of the night, the beginning of an emergency siren wails. Ace perks up, eyes squinting into the world as the egg he carries glows and glows.

He scans the black fog that encompasses the city and notices, with an intake of breath, the appearance of something eerie. White lights flood from the center of the Vienna City, reaching out the sky. The faded drops that Ace can see drift in that direction, collecting towards the area in a steady stream. The ginger-haired boy nearly drops his egg, gaping with astonishment as he flees his room and runs past him mom downstairs to escape into the outside world.

 _I must go there,_ he tells himself, ignoring his mother’s shouts of confusion and worry. _No matter what, I must go there_.

His feet slam upon concrete and he runs, runs as fast as he can and as long as he can, breath streaming up in faded puffs of white. The cold of the night does little to deter him. Instead, he hurries closer, determined to meet up with the white apparition that sends his mind into a frenzy of longing.

His egg lights the way, throbbing gold providing a spotlight that guides him around the city’s reaches. His lungs cry for air but his heart pushes him onwards, forcing him forward and forward even if he feels like he’s about to collapse at any moment.

 _Run, run, run_. He must _run._ Run to the center of the city, run to the siren of his heart, run to the place where _destiny_ calls.

He must run, forever and always.

But then, he stops.

Ace stops at the edge of what looks like city ruins, buildings warped with black and steaming with fire.

Ace stops at the base of a battlefield, a large creature of purple crystals and black scales rearing up.

Ace stops at a moment of fate, blue eyes glowing as a boy with white hair fights a battle of epic proportion.

Ace stops at the moment where everything _begins_.

**Author's Note:**

> I should not this now but I'm also going to try to add depth to some of the more pushed aside characters (*coughs at Haru and Sonia*) so that it's not just Ace and Lance who get a majority of the personality limelight but so too do other characters too. 
> 
> I have no issues with the characters in the show so far (at least from the characters who are actually IN the game. Namely, I have issues with Haru, Klein and Kroelle due to the former being a forced protag love interest while the latter two are just evil bc "Dragonoids are cool and need to have some evil dudes on the team to prove they're evil". Admittedly, Klein has some depth in personality but ehhh I'm not feeling it recently w/ his supposed hatred of Torlie. Dafnes is the only non-game character who I actually adore bc she's super cool for her impact on the show and for what she's done) but there are some nitpicks I have here and there about what should have occurred that I'm going to try an alternate route on.
> 
> Basically, though I'm going to try and keep them in-tact, I'm also going to break down and rewrite a couple of characters in a way that makes them more sympathetic and relatable than just "childhood friend who is just...there...just because" and "evil dude who wanted to become leader of a tribe and had this spiteful rivalry towards Torlie but just...kind of forgot about it bc Dragonoids need to rule the world and he has no personal grudges anymore, anyways". 
> 
> Regardless, however, the focus will be mostly on Ace and Lance who are, arguably, the main characters of the show and also the central pairing of this story. I might do other pairings along the road but they'll likely be BG romances, if anything.


End file.
